Saturday, July 29, 2006

 

Moneysaving tips you'll never read about in magazines

***Our blog has moved! You'll find more great tips for your renegade writing lifestyle at the Renegade Writer Blog. ***

This week I bought three magazines at Borders I may be interested in pitching. Total cost? $14.48. Ouch! To riff off Leona Helmsley, only fools pay newsstand prices, but I really needed these magazines, and I consoled myself that I'd be able to expense them on my taxes.

I don't think I've ever read any money-saving tips in articles about how to save major bucks buying magazines. We talked about it briefly in the Renegade Writer, but since then I've picked up some new tips. Let's break them into three categories: cheap, cheaper, cheapest.

Cheap:

-- Check your Sunday coupon supplements. Occasionally you'll find a cents-off coupon for magazines like Woman's Day and Family Circle. The coupon is usually for a certain issue, but other times, it's good for six weeks or so. If you want to buy a couple issues for market research, it may be worth raiding your mother-in-law's coupon caddy for extra coupons.

-- Use cash register coupons. When I buy magazines at the grocery store, I frequently get a store coupon to use on my next purchase of a similar magazine. For example, I buy Fitness and get a coupon for 50 cents off my next Self.

-- Send the magazine's SASC for a year-long subscription. You might as well get a whole year for what you'd pay for three newsstand issues.

-- A bonus tip for the super thrifty: Check your subscription's start date. I've sent in subscription cards from a January issue, yet the publication will start my subscription effective with the December issue -- occasionally November! Call the magazine and ask that they change your start date to the February issue -- or even the March if you purchased February on the newsstand.

Cheaper:

-- Buy subscriptions off eBay. I've found some fantastic deals here. I got three years each of Parents, Parenting, and Child for $9.78. A two-year sub to Reader's Digest for $9.98. Yankee for $8.00. You get the idea. I buy only from sellers/brokers who have excellent ratings, and I haven't run into problems yet.

-- Mine your professional affiliations. I'm not a member of ASJA, but I hear they have an excellent magazine subscription program for member/writers. I get subscription offers from magazines because I teach at a local community college: for example, I just got an offer for a year's worth of The New Yorker for $20 (or something like that).

-- Use your frequent flier miles or rewards points to buy magazines. I've used American Express rewards points to buy dozens of magazines, and when some of my United Mileage Plus miles were about to expire, I traded them for subscriptions.

-- Check out the following websites for cheap magazines subscriptions: MagazinePriceSearch.com, Discountmagazines.com, netmagazines.com, and amazon.com. Or Google "cheap magazine subscriptions" -- you'll get thousands of hits.


Cheapest:

-- Read magazines online. More and more magazines are putting their content on the web. If you're simply reading these publications to figure out what kind of stories they like, or you're already familiar with their demographics (I like to look at the actual magazine when I'm doing market research), web-based reading costs you nothing but bandwidth.

-- Steal them. Well, let me clarify that. Steal them from doctor's offices, your mother's coffee table, your brother's lad mag stash ... that sort of stealing. Occassionally I'll see a magazine that I've never seen at the newsstand, so I turn on the charm and ask if I can borrow it. I've never been turned down.

-- Read them at the library. This is what Linda does. My local library has subscriptions to at least 200 magazines. They don't even charge late fees if I'm late returning them!

-- Log into a database. Back to the library -- in Massachusetts, any resident with a library card has access to some amazing magazine databases, including Gale Group, InfoTrak, the Boston Globe, the New York Times, and more. While I still subscribe to dozens of magazines, I've been able to dump hundreds of back issues from my library. If I want to find out what Parenting has done on potty training recently, I can search InfoTrak.

Any other tips you have to save money on magazines?

Friday, July 28, 2006

 

Anthony Bourdain in Beirut

I am a fan of Anthony Bourdain's writing, as well as his food shows, so I eagerly dug into his Salon article about his thwarted experience filming in Beirut.

The surprise, for me, came at the end. My younger brother, Matt, is a Marine who's stationed in the Mideast. We just found out a couple weeks ago that he was relocated to Cyprus to help ferry people out of Lebanon. I got one short e-mail from him last week saying he was pretty tired from carrying babies around all day.

And today I read Bourdain's words. After he, his crew, and the rest of the refugees are man-handled by the embassy staff, "... we are put in the charge of the sailors and Marines of the USS Nashville who've hauled ass from Jordan on short notice to undertake a mission for which they are unrehearsed and inexperienced. Yet they perform brilliantly. The moment we pass through the last checkpoint into their control, all are treated with a kindness and humanity we can scarcely believe. Squared away, efficient, organized and caringly sensitive, the Marines break the crowd into sensibly spaced groups, give them shade and water, lead them single file to an open-ended landing craft at the water's edge. They carry babies, children, heat-stroke victims, luggage. They are soft-spoken, casually friendly. They give out treats and fruit and water. They reassure us with their ease and professionalism."

Anyway, I'm sitting here all teary and proud. Bourdain mentions none of these guys looks older than 17; indeed, my brother can carry all sorts of crazy-ass weapons on behalf of the U.S. government, but he can't legally kick back with a drink at the end of the day. So if you're reading this Matt, Friday Happy Hour is in honor of you. Nice job. :-)

Thursday, July 27, 2006

 

Getting Things Done

This week I'm re-reading Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen. OK, I'm fibbing. I'm attempting to read it for the 11th time. Not that it's boring or poorly written; there are paragraphs in there I want to etch on the inside of my eyelids! Everything he writes makes perfect sense. But I seem to lose steam around the middle when I realize what a freaking lot of work it's going to be, and I go right back to my slothful ways.

In a nutshell, to become more productive, you have to get a handle on all the "open loops" running through your head. All these random bits of information and nagging worries zap the energy you need to be fully productive. You need a black-belt in productivity, to paraphrase what he preaches in GTD. You do this by collecting, in one place, everything that needs your attention in your life: projects, ideas, to-do lists, forms, crumpled up sticky notes, assignments, etc. Then you sort through them and decide how you're going to act next: do you toss? File? Act now? Or in the future? Then you take action, either by tossing, filing, doing, or scheduling. The key is to get everything in your life into a system so that you can focus on your work at hand without being distracted by worries or wondering, "Did I forget to call Mom on her birthday?" When you work the system properly, you won't forget to call Mom, and you'll do a better job staying focused on what's important to you at that moment. (Wikipedia has a "Getting Things Done" entry, which gives even more detail. Also, check out 43folders, Lifehack.org, and Allen's company website.)

I'm fired up to give this a go ... for the 12th time. I'm curious: are any of you GTD fans? How has it helped you with your writing career? Did you fully embrace the system or just take what you need? (I'll probably fall into the later category, but Allen seems okay with that. I hate it when authors say, You have to do things MY way or the highway.)

I hope to report back in a few weeks about my improved productivity! :-)

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

 

How to track an agent's sales

If you're curious about a certain agent's selling record or you want to keep tabs on what your favorite book editors like to buy, Publishers Marketplace has a handy new tracking tool called Deal Tracker. Deal Tracker lets you specify a list of agents, agencies, editors, and/or publishers/imprints to track. Each time you visit the page, you're updated on all the deals posted since your last visit. Very cool!

You must be a paying member of Publishers Marketplace to use this cool tool. If you're an author or a wannabe author, the $20 monthly fee is seriously worth it, IMHO.

Friday, July 21, 2006

 

Baby, baby ... where did my day go?

Ok, forgive the horrible Supremes pun. It's Friday -- my day off -- and I've been chained to my desk all day, trying to catch up on work. I'm about to leave the office for a little ice cream and blueberry picking. Yum!

When I was at the Chicago One on One conference, a couple people inquired why I unsubscribed from Freelance Success, and I explained how I'd done a time-study on my workday. Very enlightening. My study showed I was spending way more time discussing Tony Soprano's inner demons with fellow writers than exorcising my own demons through writing.

So another great post from Lifehacker today shows one way to map your time so that you can carve out more time for projects important to you. Like making money.

Have a great weekend. To paraphrase the other Diana, I've got this burning yearning feelin' inside me for ice cream.

 

Get thee to Staples

The Lifehacker blog posts their list of 10 cheap or free tools that can boost productivity, along with several awesome ideas I've never considered, such as using my cell phone's camera to "remember" things.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

 

Renegade Writer Q&A: Deb Carpenter


Deb Carpenter agreed to speak with me this morning at a local coffeeshop (Starbucks, if you must know). I’ve known Deb for a little over a year, and she’s an incredibly smart and talented writer – the kind of writer who we’re proud to claim as a Renegade Writer fan. Her credits include Parenting, Woman's Day, ADDitude, Publishers Weekly, and Child.com. She lives in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts, with her husband and two children, ages 6 and 3. Here’s our interview:

Why did you start freelancing?

My work background before having my two children was in child development and psychology. For five years, I was a stay-at-home mom who read a lot of magazines. I’d read articles and say to myself, “I could have written that!” so I started thinking it might be something fun for me to try. I had a ton of story ideas, and with my background, it felt like a good fit. As you know, I took your class after reading The Renegade Writer [I teach a class on getting started as a freelance writer through our local adult education center, and it’s true – Deb actually brought our book to the first class. An instant A+!Diana], and an online query writing class.

Honestly, I never thought I’d succeed. Sending those first few queries out was just an exercise in something I thought could be fun. I was interested to see what would happen, and I never really thought through “what next” if I actually got an assignment. My personality is “start at the top and see what happens.” It was pure curiosity.

So, you must have been stunned that you sold something to a major magazine fairly quickly.

I was floored. Scared out of my mind. It was one thing to make a sale, and an entirely different thing to actually have an editor counting on me.

It was my sixth query to Parenting that sold, a short piece on how to use reverse psychology to get kids to do what you want (ran February 2006). Up till that point, I was getting nos, but I’d just send something else, using the editor’s comments to help me focus on developing just the right idea.

During the writing process, I worked really hard to make a good impression. I spent way more time than I probably needed writing the piece, and I was nothing but accommodating during the revision process or when the editor had questions. I tried to be a writer she’d want to work with again. When the job was complete, I sent her a thank you note – nothing fancy, just something to let her know I appreciated the assignment. It’s something I now do with every magazine I write for. I also give them something a little extra: for example, for a story I did on ways to leave your children behind, I wrote up an additional seven or eight tips. On another story, I wrote up a little sidebar.

The interesting thing is that Parenting bought the seventh idea I pitched, as well as some of the earlier ones they’d rejected once I turned in my first piece. With Woman’s Day, the editor bought from my first pitch. She didn’t want the whole story, just part of it. So you never know how things are going to work out!

Deb, what are the three things that have surprised you since you’ve started freelancing?

First, that the work is there, especially if you have a niche or specialty. Some writers scatter buckshot, but that strategy hasn’t worked for me. I’ve done some assignments beyond my skill-set, and I spend three times as long on them as I do on the child development and psychology pieces. For me, specializing is the best use of my time.

Second, organization is key to working effectively. I’ve made most of my sales on follow-ups with editors, so I keep careful track of who I pitch and when I should follow up. I create folders for each assignment, keep my computer files organized, and make sure my contacts are in order. Super professionalism means super organizational skills – I don’t want to look like a schmuck. And especially because I have kids, it’s doubly important for me to stay organized because it’s so easy to lose track of what’s going on when you’ve got to switch gears back and forth.

And third, you can have a family and a career, but you have to know your limits. I make sure I don’t have too many assignments on my plate at once because everyone loses if I can’t keep up. It’s okay to turn down assignments – I’ve done it and my career hasn’t suffered at all. Better to be honest than to disappoint.

Thanks, Deb.

No problem. Now where’s that $20 you promised me?

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

 

Musical chairs at Prevention, Fitness

If you write for women's and health & fitness magazines, you might be interested in the editorial shuffling going on right now, according to a story in today's Ad Age. In a nutshell, Liz Vaccariello is leaving her post as executive editor at Fitness for the EIC position at Prevention. And Denise Brodey, who was previously at Shape, is now EIC at Fitness. Of course, we know what all this means: more shuffling TK.

 

Greedy writers need not apply

Linda told me about fellow writer Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell's blog post yesterday, where she posted her communications with a Craig's List advertiser about his ad for a high-paying writing gig, when, in fact, he wanted writers who'd work for free. You know, the glory of exposure and all. His response is, well, as funny as the real Tim Allen.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

 

Some rules are good

I found GoDaddy's founder Bob Parson's blog and his rules to live by, thanks to Lifehacker. Some of these rules are very applicable to the freelance life. Enjoy!

Sunday, July 16, 2006

 

Vocation or Vacation?

Linda and I are back at our desks this a.m. after spending several whirlwind days in Chicago at the Writers & Editors One-on-One, a limited-attendance annual conference that, as the name suggests, brings writers and editors together to talk magazines, story needs, etc. We loved meeting writers we've only met online, and we thought the conference organizers did a terrific job coordinating 60 or so rowdy attendees' meetings and dinners.

After the event, we shared our observations about writers conferences. OK, we're renegades and all that, but we thought it might be of value to share some rules that do work for us at these events:

  1. Fuzzy Navels are for cruises, not conferences. It can be really easy to confuse a conference in New York, Chicago, or Boston with a vacation: It's not a vacation. It's a business meeting, and a marathon one at that. The rule we follow is No Alcohol. Hey, some people can down a drink or two and everything's fine. Other people have one drink, and let the party begin. That buzz may smooth out your nervousness, but at the cost of impairing your judgment. For us, it's better to confess we're nervous than to wake up the next morning, wondering why our bras are on backwards. (In short: Don't drink and pitch.)


  2. The editors have to impress us. We met a lot of writers who were on the verge of panic before meeting with editors. Of course you want make a great impression and you want them to love your ideas. But you also want to work with an editor who you respect, right? If you're the type of writer who loves a bit of S&M, then skip to the next tip. If you like working with people who respect writers, however, then treat these meetings as an opportunity to figure out, "Is this someone I could work with collaboratively? Would I like them if we worked in an office together? Do they 'get' me? Does their magazine sound writer-friendly?" Sometimes there's simply no "love connection," as my friend Alison likes to say. Listen to your gut. Be picky. Don't be afraid to admit to yourself the relationship isn't a good fit. Focus your energies on an editor and/or magazine where the love is mutual. Which brings us to ...


  3. Editors are humans, too. When you meet them in elevators or sit next to them at dinner, they probably don't want you to pull out a list of story ideas. We saw one writer pitching nonstop at a cocktail party (Editor: "So what do you think of the weather?" Writer: "The weather? That reminds me -- what about a piece on hot air balloons?"). Ask them about their kids or where they grew up or what they think of the current political climate. (Just joking on that last one.) Have a little mercy on them. They may forget you were the kind person who walked with them to dinner, but they will definitely remember the writer who pitched story ideas from a bathroom stall.


  4. Respect others' time. The conference organizers made it clear that everyone has ten minutes with each editor, and when the bell rings, even if you're in the middle of a sentence, you must get up and move on. However, Linda lost two minutes from her first editor meeting because the writer sat there chatting with the editor after the bell rang. In fact she sat there until the organizer went over there and asked her to move on. Every minute you go over your time, another writer loses that minute -- and she paid for the conference, too. If you don't get to finish your conversation with an editor, that's a great excuse to follow up with an e-mail.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

 

This made our day

After a long day of entertaining houseguests, doing housework, and -- oh yeah -- writing, I checked my e-mail and found the most delightful note from freelancer Karen Abalos, thanking us for the advice we dispensed in The Renegade Writer. She wrote, "With your advice (and a little bit of luck and hard work) I was finally able to land my first health feature gig in this month's Women's Health and Fitness magazine. And, holy crap, they actually put a reference to the story on the cover!" Karen sent us this photo, which she graciously gave us permission to post, along with a mockup of her story, complete with her writerly comments. (Too funny! Wish we could post it here.)


Linda asked Karen what the secrets were for her success. In her words:

"1. Removing instant messenger from my computer. No instant messenger, no fooling around.

2. Keeping my desk clean and organized.

3. The just five more trick. I often have a hard time focusing because I work from home and I'm constantly tempted by distraction. When I get the urge to deviate from the task at hand I tell my self "just five more." For example: brainstorm just five more story ideas, read just five more paragraphs of this book on writing, answer emails for just five minutes, or write this query for just five more minutes. This trick usually gets me to focus for a longer amount of time on the task at hand."

So run out today and read Karen's article ... it's the July 2006 issue with the coverline (Karen's) "Brownies vs. cupcakes: How to choose the best splurge."

Way to go, Karen! :-)

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